Preventing Terrorism and Protecting Social Privacy

PREVENTING TERRORISM AND PROTECTING SOCIAL PRIVACY

ALONZO BOND

ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

INSTRUCTOR: ELIZA GORDNER

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

Terrorism has had a negative impact on our way of life, by creating a fear of being unsafe within our country. As a result, of the attack on September 11, 2001 the United States Government chooses to expand their security agency thus, the homeland security agency was born. Along, with political policies such as, the United States Patriot Act 1 and 2. We will also examine the American Government role while using, new tools and techniques for fighting terrorism. Has it compromised the integrity of individual privacy in the United States all data information will be used after September 11, 2001 to present 2011. By enacting these policies that discretely contains three provisions, which allows the United States Government to expand its tools and techniques on fighting terrorism, such as monitoring private telephone conversation and suspects of domestic criminal activity. Secondly, by overhearing private conversations of non-suspect individuals this is done through the extension of roving wiretap authority without proper privacy protection can lead to misuse along with being harmful to society's constistutal rights.

Rosenzweig (2010) stated the following:

As stated in the counter-terrorism article. Given the utility of this sort of data analysis, and the likely persistence of the terrorist threat, it is, as a matter of practical reality, unlikely that government will eschew these analytical tools anytime soon, if ever. Though some in the privacy community yearn for a return to the days when practical obscurity was a reality, and a realistic appraisal suggests that these tools are likely a permanent part of our national landscape. These tools play a large part in America's counter- terrorism efforts.

However, these political policies violate individual's privacy and civil liberties of American citizens physically and electronically. However, the implementation of government guidelines for the use of private data, particularly with new technological tools should meet these four requirements relevance, retention, dissemination and reliability while being strongly supervised. Consequently, when the government powers extend its boundaries some democratic process must be taken to correct the balance of privacy and public safety to be maintained.

Therefore, organization called the American civil liberties union, which believes political policies such as, the Patriot Act, gives the government and law enforcement unnecessary powers. That will crack the foundation of America's civil liberties and will go well beyond the original scope for which it was created.

Justice Brandies stated:

As stated in Olmstead vs. United States (1928) by justice Brandies the makers of our constitution sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the fourth Amendment. Therefore, we must continue to strive to maintain a balance of safety and not compromise the privacy of American citizens. We can achieve this through continually updating legislation and perfecting all tools for fighting terrorism.

Even though these prevention tools are put in place to protect the social structure of the American people, I do not believe they can completely provide a real solution in safe guarding the civil liberties of American citizens. Therefore, I see plenty of room for improvement within our Governmental policies and guideline procedures in preserving the social privacy and civil liberties, which must be kept safe and protected at all cost. There should be no reason why morally or ethically to shake up the constitution.

We can make many comparisons to situations that could reduce our social privacy and liberties as American citizens. However, pursuing acts of terrorism before it can strip away our social freedom. Therefore, it is very plausible to assume when social freedom and liberties are taken away there is a high probable chance of mutiny will take place to preserve their freedom and liberties.

In this paper we will analyze how government policies and their techniques can seriously affect privacy and liberties of all American citizens; it has also show how reducing the social freedom and privacy builds a sense of insecurity in their government, while reducing the eroding of our liberties. However, to prevent and save lives while fighting terrorism the government must take a more active and aggressive roll to improve and insure the privacy of every American citizen is safe. Therefore, this can be achieved through fair congressional legislation and remembering the citizen's social privacy and liberties are the foremost thing that will benefit from all integrated policies and techniques.

In my paper classical theory of Utilitarianism is used which argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice (Mosser,2010,p1.7). However, ethics refers to principles of right and wrong which individuals use to guide their behavior. Individuals act within a social environment that, in turn, exists within